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Tech

‘Devil Daggers’ Is the Best Parts of ‘Doom’ Condensed to a Minute

Buy a ticket to hell and a lesson in humility for $5.
Image: Sorath

Doom was, and in many ways still remains, the definitive first-person shooter. For decades now, others have managed to do as well, but few have managed to top that satisfying feeling of pumping a shotgun and shooting a flaming, floating skull until it explodes.

It also had brilliantly designed levels that still hold up today and made some very important technological breakthroughs, but that's basically the gist of the game: walk circles around enemies (or strafe, as they say), fill demons with lead, and congratulate yourself on a job well done when the floor is covered in blood and guts.

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Devil Daggers, a new first person shooter that was released this week, takes that formula, cooks it on a slow flame for many hours, and reduces it to its most basic, potent form, so you can get a full demon-shooting experience in about minute.

That is, if you can even last that long.

Every round of Devil Daggers starts like the same nightmare. I stand on a platform in a dimly lit space. In the distance, a floating obelisk starts spewing out skulls, which immediately start flying in my direction. At the bottom of the screen is what looks like a red hand, which sprays out chunky projectiles. This is in my only weapon.

If one of the skulls touch me, I die. If I fall off the platform, I die. If I survive that first onslaught, more skulls and increasingly disturbing demons will spawn on the platform and chase me until I die. One way or another, I'll die, and it probably won't take more than a couple of minutes.

Here's the best Devil Daggers run I've seen by who seems like a superhuman player. He lasts about eight minutes:

As you can see, Devil Daggers also nails that Doom look: dark, drab, pixelated, and menacing. It's a window to hell, if that window was a CRT monitor circa 1994.

Since you can't win, the real fun is in proving that you suck less than your friends on the game's leaderboards. Worldwide, I'm in 11,157th place, but among my friends…okay, I'm getting my ass handed to me on that front as well, but at least it's a realistic goal that keeps me playing!

You can buy a ticket to hell and a very effective lesson in humility by buying Devil Daggers from Steam for $5.